“Mini” VS “Traditional” Websites? And the winner is…
Jim Edwards here with my latest article (below) for you…
If you’ve been following my blog at all lately, you know I’ve been focusing on mini-sites and how to use them to quickly build your business.
Well, there seems to be a little confusion as to what exactly "mini" sites are and how you use them to quickly build up your online business (specifically selling to niche markets).
So before we go any further, I wanted to clear up any misconceptions for you and fill in the blanks for everyone.
That way we can all get on the same page about building a list, selling your own products, promoting as an affiliate and more.
Enjoy the article (below)…
Jim
PS – Want to comment on this article?
Leave your 2-cents here on the blog in the "Comments" section
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Cashing In Fast With "Mini" Sites
– by Jim Edwards
© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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I’ve gotten a plenty of questions lately about why I think "mini" sites, simple 1-2 page websites, are better than "traditional" websites you might learn to build in school or from a website design course.
In fact, I believe "traditional" websites represent a complete waste of time and end up making small and home-based business owners give up on the Internet before they even have a chance to get started.
If you want to cash in fast on the web, stop thinking about making "web" sites and start thinking about "mini" sites.
Basically, traditional sites try to be all things to all people.
If you go to somebody’s website and you see:
"Sign up for my newsletter";
"Buy my product";
"Check out these links";
"Check out our article archive";
"Click Here for the article of the day";
"Subscribe to this RSS feed";
"Visit our blog!"
…. it just creates confusion.
In other words, visitors arrive at the site and either go nuts figuring out what to do next or, more likely, they simply click their back button – never to return.
I once had a sales manager who told me, "A confused mind always answers ‘No!’ Never give people more than two choices in a sales talk."
He was right!
Traditional websites give people too many choices and they fail miserably at it, usually before they ever get off the ground.
On the other hand, mini-sites succeed wildly because they have one purpose: to force someone to make a decision!
Mini-sites typically fall into one of four main categories:
- sales letters
- newsletters
- affiliate presales
- intelligence gathering
Virtually every mini-site you ever see will fit one of these categories. Let’s take a look at each type.
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#1 Sales Letter Mini-Sites
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One-page sales letter mini-sites represent the most recognizable type of mini-site on the Web.
A sales letter’s primary purpose should be obvious: to sell somebody something!
Typically one-page sales letter mini-sites sell ebooks, software, physical products, services and more.
Virtually anything can get sold with a one-page sales letter mini-site.
The decision you want a visitor to make when they come to your sales letter mini-site is also simple: buy or don’t buy.
You force them to decide right there on the spot. Just like any good salesman, you force the decision by the prospect.
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#2 Newsletter Mini-Sites
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Newsletter, or forced-opt-in, mini-sites make up the second type of mini-site.
Their primary purpose is to entice people to sign up for your list, newsletter, or ezine.
But frankly, if you looked at some people’s newsletter sites, you would think their purpose was anything but getting people to sign up for their newsletter!
Once you understand that the primary purpose of your newsletter mini-site is to get a signup, you can eliminate everything else that detracts from that purpose.
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#3 Affiliate Pre-Sell Mini-Sites
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Affiliate Pre-Sell pages make up the third type of mini-site you can use.
Numerous ways exist to "pre" sell people on an affiliate page, persuade them to make a decision, and then take the specific action you want.
Some common types of pres-sell pages include: product reviews; pre-sell videos; audio postcards; forced opt-in pages and more.
Most people think that the primary purpose of a pre-sell mini-site is to have somebody click an affiliate link, but I disagree.
I think that the main purpose of your affiliate pre-sell page should be to get a prospect to give you their name and their email address.
Once you get that information you can sell them several things over time.
If all you ever do is refer traffic without building a relationship, you’ll miss out on lucrative back-end opportunities.
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#4 Intelligence Gathering Mini-Sites
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The fourth type of mini-site is used to gather marketing or other intelligence from your target niche.
Here you actually use a mini-site to get people to tell you what they want to buy, try, see, give their opinion on a topic, etc.. I call it "Your Most Burning Question."
You use this type of mini-site to gather information about what people want to know, their overall interest level in your topic, and as a means to get ideas for newsletter and blog content.
The bottom line with an intelligence gathering mini-site is to get people to tell you what you need to know in order to make money selling them something later.
So now the obvious question: Which one do you start with?
The answer: It depends on your purpose right now in your business!
Need to sell your existing product or service? You should set up a sales letter mini-site.
Don’t have a list of subscribers? Set up a newsletter mini-site.
No product to sell? Build an affiliate pre-sell mini-site.
No clue what your target audience wants or if they even want anything at all? Set up an intelligence gathering mini-site and find out what you need to know BEFORE spending months creating a product.
Mini-sites are all about saving time and maximizing your effort through clear focus and purpose.
Once you know exactly what you want to get done online, mini-sites create the fastest, easiest pathway to success.
<– End Article –>
Hope this clears up any misunderstandings about mini-sites and why they’re so effective… no matter whether you’re a fresh-faced newbie or a battle-hardened online business veteran.
To Your Success,
Jim
Posted in Articles
22 Responses to ““Mini” VS “Traditional” Websites? And the winner is…”
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Jim,
I wish I knew this three years ago. I would be would be much further ahead now.
Great information and straight to the point.
Thanks for the info
Mike
http://www.youthsoccer-power.com
http://www.youth-soccer-fitness.com
http://youthsoccerfitness.getprograde.com
Jim,
As usual, an excellent summary of minisite types and functions, totally agree. You just helped to remind me where to focus my efforts. Just makes sense to save the link lists, resource lists, PLR lists, etc. for a blog, content or membership site, etc.
Like you said, if you’re selling something or seeking an opt-in, focus on that and you’ll likely be more successful.
One question, how do you feel about having unobtrusive links to a main page, blog, etc. at the page bottom or footer on a sales/opt-in page?
Take Care,
Ken
I have to admit:
MiniSite don´t do that well as two years ago – in Germany I have to admit.
1. Competition gets harder
2. Adwords click prices go up
3. SEO is harder for minisites
4. that is important:
TRUST
People dont trust you like before.
With a well established content site that carefully has tested opt in boxes and links to several sales letters my conversion is like never before.
A typical sales letter converts on a 50+ webpages website with over 3%. And this website sends also traffic to shops.
The confusion are the so called portals (i.e. Yahoo) where you don´t know what to click.
And don´t forget:
in 10 years there will be no more “niche”.
There will be well established content rich websites with experts in that niche that will be recognized as “the expert” of that niche.
Last thing: SEO
You dont get into the DMOZ and other relevant directories and web2.0 plattforms with “only” a two page Minisite.
You may prove me wrong — but thats the way it works for me.
Go the expert way.
Jim,
I have a “mini” site that doesn’t quite fit any of your definitions.
I sell a silk plant cleaner called Simply Silk on the site, with three sizes available. The customer can select which size from the home page, which takes them directly to the shopping cart. A second info page contains an html version of the manufacturer’s “material safety data sheet”. That’s it.
However, the cart I use is osCommerce, which requires customers to sign up for an account (collecting their email address in the process.) Customers can log in and view their past purchases, find the status of their current order, etc. And I have a merchant account, so I don’t use PayPal or Google Checkout.
I actually put the site online to develop it, and then got side-tracked with cataract surgery. When I started getting orders, in spite of the fact the site was little more than the osCommerce demo, I realized I had to finish what I had started a year and a half before.
I completed the changes shortly thereafter, and set up an AdWords campaign to bring in some traffic, as I don’t have many IBLs.
I don’t get a lot of traffic, but my conversion rate is about 25%. (Problems with damaged product during shipping has left the 32 oz spray bottles–my biggest seller–on backorder indefinitely, or I’d be marketing the heck out of the site…)
I also have a full blown website, selling stock photography, which has been up since 2000. The “mini” site has sold more product since it’s first sale last summer than the photography site has in nearly eight years online!
Although it must be said that photography is a very competitive market, I still think the “mini” site concept is a clear winner.
-Anita
Jim, I know you promoted mini sites in the past and you may be trying to milk the concept – however everything I’m seeing in the forums say that they don’t work. What with blog content being the best Google food then a small 1-2 page site just doesn’t provide that.
Plus, I often feel sorry for these newbies that come into the IM game and get the feeling they need 300 websites to succeed when what they really need (from a newbie point) is one thing they do extremely well such as an authority blog or siloed platform.
Of well, there’s my two cents – however I do like your stuff so don’t take me all wrong. I know you’ve been in the game a long time so I’m not totally putting you off. Just the mini site (newbie) idea.
I know what Jim is getting at in regards to too much choice on many websites and not enough call to actions. But the SEO issue is really strong. Carefully crafted multi-page websites with different search terms for landing pages still track better from SEO and if each landing page still captured visitor info and/or directed them back to the sales pages, I would think that this would be the best compromise. I don’t see how a 1-2 page site can track on page 1 of Google.
okay, but what if your website is focused and single in purpose.
from a homebased business perspective, I really feel the need to keep things simple.
What would be a good example of an “information gathering” website?
I am torn between the two types of websites. I have some expertise that I want to monetize, but I also would like to set up an “expert” page to draw customers to my “real world” service business.
I’d have liked to see links in the article to a great example of each form of site. Maybe you can do that in a future article, Jim – analyse a good site for what makes it good, explain the finer points with examples from each.
As far as search engines and good rankings go – plenty of single page articles buried in the bowels of article sites get on page one of SE results pages. Surely mini-sites are not that much different?
Improve your chances by focussing in very tightly. Find some low or no competition Adwords on Google, Make sure these appear in the ad title, body text and carry through to file-name, headline and text of your mini-site. Google loves this kind of consistency. I think zillions of keywords in your list dilutes the SEO.
And – of course for human visitors, you’ll need to have guessed right what problem the surfer wanted too solve when he/she entered the search term/key word … make sure your headline and first two sentences tell the reader exactly how you site/article/product is going to help them solve that problem.
Just to clarify:
1- Mini-sites work GREAT no matter what people in the “forums” say.
2- I’ve NEVER worried about what the search engines think or ever bothered to worry about coming up high in them. SEO is a load of crap for the average person.
3- No clue where the comment “no niches in 10 years” came from. If anything, there will be even more niches in 10 years!
4- Anyone who tries to create an authority / portal site as a newbie is DOOMED to failure.
5 – You don’t need 300 sites – you need about a 10-20 to be outrageously successful compared to anyone else.
6 – It’s easy to get around the Google “Slap” if you know how and mini-sites are no exception.
Sorry guys… thanks for trying to predict the end of mini-sites, but they are easier, powerful and just as effective as they have ever been — especially when it comes to the newbies and people who are just starting out.
Jim
Great advice, Jim. Traffic and SEO considerations should not diminish what you are recommending … not when there are so many free-to-low-cost ways to bring people to a website.
No matter what approach a web master takes among the four alternatives you highlight, the key in every case is to get visitors to know, like and trust you. Thus, they might be more likely to do precisely what you want.
OBVIOUSLY the result any mini-site seeks has its limits. That’s not to say, though, it could never be soliciting sign-ups to a $25,000 per seat seminar. If mini-site 1 attracts leads who sign-up to a valuable, free e-letter (delivered via a sequential autoresponder series), mini-site 2 could present this list an offer for a $25,000 per seat seminar that promises to deliver income many times the cost of the seminar. Piece of cake IF YOU TRULY HAVE SOMETHING VALUABLE TO OFFER.
Just to highlight what H.R. 3400 said above, check out what master copywriter Gary Bencivenga did to promote his Bencivenga Bullets free e-letter of response boosting secrets.
Once you sign up, pay particular attention to Bullet #10, then do the math. Two days and a cool half mill. I’ll take it!
Loved your “mini-site” article. I like the whole idea of mini-sites! I’ve been trying to create a good mailing list and a couple of affiliate mini-sites.
(I just turned 73 y/o; not exactly the computer generation)
I try to use your advice when I get it and have watched some of your videos.
Several “gurus” tell us about site building and testing, etc., But no one tells much about promotion.
Where do we find the $2. per month hosting and the less expensive PPC’s when we don’t have thousands on a proven list?
Regards, John Rhea, Clarksville, TN
I’ll be watching your Blog.
I really like the idea of mini sites and it makes sense to get an opt in before sending someone to an affiliate product.
I have a question though:
How do mini sites fare when it coems to SEO?
Will you have to use pay per clck or write articles to get traffic, or will you be able to get organic traffic as with a traditional site?
Thanks
Lynne Lee
http://www.articlewritingandmarketing.com
Re Jim’s recent (2/14/08) article on mini-sites: isn’t the day over for one to two page mini sites, given the google slap? Perry and Jim said the way around the slap was a multipaged site. Is that not true? Or is there still a way to have a two to three page site without having google raise the cpc of google adwords to $5-10?
Mel
Mini sites make sense… I’m a relative newby… only learnt to set up a website eight months ago — and I wish I had access to this info beforehand — never too late to learn… and that’s for sure!
I have a website and blog… and in the process of creating a new product which I will certainly set up a mini site for!
Thanks for the info Jim
Jeanne
http://www.aspirationsplus.com
http://www.goalsnaspirations.com
Jim,
Great article. I use only mini sites and love them. I also think the correct way to affiliate market is to get the name and email address first. Then you can market to them over and over again.
I also use a squeeze page to build my list.
Mike
http://www.squeeze-page-system.com
I could not agree with you more Jim. Small focused sites always do better, and they are less work to run! Combined with a simple wordpress blog to push out some articles and build your SEO is the next step, but that’s about as far as you need to go. KISS… keep it simple stupid!
I agree that “mini sites” are powerful and targeted for whatever specific intent they were built for. In fact, I own a network of such blogs for various niches. And I can tell you that the conversion rates are high! Plus, these are very easy to create and maintain. But, one point to note is, it is still practical and wise to own huge sites as well as your flagship site. It can be a blog which allows interaction with your customers, just like what you have here.
Davion
http://www.secrets-of-affiliatemarketing.com
http://www.davionwong.com
Jim
I have been online since 1999 and making a very good income from mini sites. So I have to agree with you 100% about everything you said.
These people in the forums have for the most part NEVER done it or anything else. They just say the same things they here other people saying and just blindly repeat it as the truth. The problem is they have never doing anything but TALK.
Go to google and search for “pergola plans” you will find that I’m #8 with a mini site.
SEO?
Well that is a very large part of how I make my living. Google “garage plans” I’m number 5. Even though garageplansplus.com is not a mini site but how do you fit 3,000+ plans into anything other then a huge site. But I am the first to say the conv. on that site suck as compared to pergola-plans.
But you are right for the average person SEO is just a dream. Is it hard? NO but most people don’t have the discipline to do it.
The long tail is one of the best books I have ever read on niches. There are more niches created ever day. This is a time of unlimited opportunity if people would act on it.
Statement number #4. Just start small and then go big.
Just one site a month would allow most people to make a living in a year or less.
Statement #6 the google slap if for people who don’t know what they are doing.
Thanks
Charles Kirkland
Hi,
Good couple of articles yet again (including the tips on what makes areader friendly site). The thing that I have found with mini sites is that it allows you to focus solely on the job in hand without being diverted a way from it with regards to having to constantly add to a blog or newsletter.
That means that this extra free time can be used to add useful content to what you are trying to promote and if necessary to add additional material or information to make the site even more attractive to visitors / customers.
Add the time it saves you in purely creating a mini site compared to some of the larger “behemoths” also gives you longer to work on the necessary SEO and other traffic producing techniques.
Steffan
Hi
a wonderful idea “these mini sites” but I thing when you have a ” classical site with a menu and many categories” you pay a ” hosting for this web site” however if you create a series of mini sites you should pay a hosting for each minisite
Am-I wrong?
Best wishes
Bodor